Monmouthshire Meadows Issue 29 Registered Charity No. 1111345 Autumn 2018 Our aims are to conserve and enhance the landscape by enabling members to maintain, manage and restore their semi-natural grasslands and associated features In This Issue From the Chair From the Chair .......................... 1 Stephanie Tyler Contacting MMG ....................... 2 It has been a very strange year for weather – very cold and very wet in MMG Committee ...................... 4 the early spring and then dry and hot for many weeks in the late spring and New Members ........................... 4 early summer. Grassland Fungi Guide .............. 4 Our Autumn Social .................... 5 Surveys Is Rye-grass Always Greener? ... 6 There has been a spate of new members but the survey team (Elsa Wood, Sheelagh Kerry and me) has managed to visit land owned by all these Gwent Fungus Group ................ 6 (except one) as well as re-visit several sites to see progress. Most sites are More Encounters with small areas of one or two acres but larger interesting sites included the Long-horned Bees ................... 7 29 acre Bealieu Ridge Farm owned by Bob Nock near Staunton, the 15 acre Members’ Meadows ................. 9 Pant y Pwll Farm at The Hendre owned by David and Jules Barrell and the A Management Service for 149 acre Three Pools Farm at Llanvetherine now owned by Huw Evans. Three Meadow Owners ................. 11 Pools Farm was also the venue for a Bioblitz organised by the South-east Hedgehogs: Halting the Wales Biological Records Centre (SEWBReC) on 14 July at which the Group Decline ................................. 11 was represented. Many small sites turned out to be of great interest as for Local Wildlife Sites ................. 12 example four acres on Barbadoes Hill recently bought by Richard Jackson and his wife where there was much Devil’s-bit Scabious, Spotted Orchids, Dates for your Diary .............. 14 Eyebright and many other plants. Baling hay at Trellech Wet Meadow, Dick Coates www.monmouthshiremeadows.org.uk Reserve Round-up it and preventing further encroachment. The orchids this The dry weather in July made mowing so much year were stunning – huge swathes of Heath Spotted easier this year and the hay was taken at all three of our Orchids, many Common Spotted Orchids and a lovely reserves during the summer. At Ida’s Meadow at patch of Early Marsh x Spotted Orchid hybrids. In August Maryland a small group of us pulled encroaching bracken the Betony and Devil’s-bit Scabious at the edges of the during the spring and we are planning a work party in two bogs put on a wonderful show and was useful to late November to cut back fallen willows – do come if bees and other insects after the hay was cut. you can. Suzanne Noble, formerly of the PlantWild seed At Kingcoed Meadows professional company, is now specialising in growing native orchids photographers have been taking shots each month and she collected some seed from our Greater Butterfly through the season from fixed points and also from Orchids at this reserve. overhead drones, for a forthcoming film on the wildlife of different habitats in Wales. Roger Ruston has also found a good population of the scarce Long-horned Bee at the meadows where Tufted Vetch seems to be especially important (see his article later in this newsletter). He alerted me to vehicle tracks through the meadows in June and Rachel Morgan followed this up contacting the adjacent landowner from where the tracks emerged and it turned out that a Hot Betony at Wet Meadow, Dick Coates At Wet Meadow near Trellech Dick Coates continues to keep an eye on things and has been weeding the new hedge and preparing long gaps in internal hedges ready for planting up in the New Year. We are obtaining hedge plants from Tom Ward-Jackson through the Long Forest Project. Neville Hart of Gwent Emergency landing at Kingcoed, Wildlife Trust has rolled the bracken around the edges Keivan Edwards twice and that has made a huge difference in weakening Contact MMG If you are not a member and would like to join contact our membership secretary Marilyn Dunkelman on 01600 860031, [email protected] or use our online membership form Contributions to the newsletter or items for the web site can be sent to Marilyn For general information please contact Sheelagh Kerry on 01873 890598 or [email protected] Contact details for our Committee, as well as our news and events and information about our meadow reserves at Kingcoed and Maryland, are on our web site www.monmouthshiremeadows.org.uk Follow us on Twitter @MonMeadows www.monmouthshiremeadows.org.uk Page 2 Air Balloon had made a landing on the meadow and the hybrids and we saw the first known Southern Marsh tracks were from the vehicle that collected the balloon. Orchids from the meadows as well as a host of other We are expecting a donation for this! interesting plants. Our hosts very kindly provided tea Elsewhere, photographer Nanette Hepburn of and refreshments for members. The second was an Hepburn Photography has been taking photographs of evening walk around lovely meadows at Ty Major in the orchids at a number of sites, including Wet Meadow, for hills near Forest Coal Pit, owned by Sheelagh Kerry and an article that will be in Landscape magazine. her partner Peter Smith. The views and the orchids were appreciated by all and again refreshments were on offer. Mowing jobs The Group’s Tracmaster has been put to good use with David Llewellyn mowing several garden meadows at Penallt, a field of almost an acre at Beacon Farm on Beacon Hill and a large orchard at Llanlowell House near Usk. Lindsay Tyler also used the machine to mow a member’s orchard and path in the Llanthony Valley. Ponies The two Exmoor Ponies were at their summer home with Jane and Tony Pannett near Tintern until the end of August before being moved to the Virtuous A glorious open evening at Ty Major Well to have their feet trimmed and graze off some vegetation at this wetland. They are now at Nigel and MMG was also present at the National Bee Day Jane Seabourne’s fields on Mitchel Troy Common and event at the Nelson Gardens in Monmouth, Gwent are scheduled to graze fields on Barbadoes Hill, in the Wildlife Trust’s Open Farm Sunday at Pentwyn reserve, Whitebrook and Angidy Valleys and at Manson Barn near and at the Chepstow and Usk Shows together with Bee Monmouth. Thanks as ever to Alan and Steph Poulter for Friendly Monmouthshire. We thank Phil Powell of Gwent ensuring their welfare and moving them from site to site. Energy cic for sponsoring the tent at Chepstow. AGM and Open Meadow Days Steph Tyler The AGM seems a long time ago now but was a successful evening with an excellent buffet prepared by members and organised by Judith Carruthers. Colin Cheesman, Programme Director of Plantlife Cymru, the Welsh section of the national plant charity gave a talk first on the work of Plantlife in Wales, particularly concentrating on grasslands, and he showed several short films by Trevor Dines, Plantlife’s Botanical Specialist, on creating a meadow. Our two Open Meadows events were popular and very enjoyable occasions. The first was to Blaentrothy Meadows near Grosmont owned now by Ruaridh and Caroline MacDonald. They form an SSSI and are probably the most important and largest area of species-rich grassland in Monmouthshire. Everyone who came was very impressed with Ready for the Crowds: Martin Fenn-Smith on the MMG the thousands of Heath Spotted orchids and stand at Chepstow Show (Rosemary Parkhouse) www.monmouthshiremeadows.org.uk Page 3 Committee Roles Welcome to our New The MMG committee is elected each year by our Members members at the spring Annual General Meeting. There We are delighted to welcome these new were no changes to the people this year but a few have members to the group: taken on different roles. Rachel Morgan, our treasurer Jules & Dave Barrell, The Hendre last year, is now vice chair of the group, supporting Sarah Brudenell, Blakeney Steph. The new treasurer is David Llewellyn, who also Carol & Philip Cook, The Narth looks after our machinery and drives the Tracmaster. Belinda Davies, Lower Cwmyoy After the AGM, Cecilia Davies stepped down from Huw Evans, Llanvetherine her role as membership secretary, handing over to Helene Gardiner, Garway Hill Mick Goodyear, Symonds Yat Marilyn Dunkelman. The group are very grateful for Richard Helyer, Portishead Cecilia’s work over the last two years and pleased that John Hinderer, Chepstow she will continue to be a member of the committee. Richard Jackson, Tintern The current committee is: Susan & Gareth Jenkins, Llanishen Steph Tyler – Chair Nicholas Macdonald-Buchanan, Cwmyoy Emily Melville-Roberts, St Maughans Rachel Morgan – Vice chair Shane Mills-Heyes, Devauden Sheelagh Kerry – Secretary Catherine Nelson, London David Llewellyn – Treasurer Robert & Suzanna Nock, Staunton Marilyn Dunkelman – Membership secretary Sarah Orchard, St Briavels & newsletter/web site editor Roger Ruston, Monmouth Dick Coates – Warden, Trellech Wet Meadow David & Caroline Sharratt, Tidenham Clare Adamson – Publicity officer Sally Simons, Monmouth Steph Poulter – Ponies Elin Sommer, Bryngwyn Cecilia Davies Mark Thornycroft, Trelleck Ruth Thurston, Croesyceiliog Judith Carruthers Guinevere Vaughan, Nantyderry Sarah Cheese John Weale, Welsh Newton Pam Manfield Grassland Fungi Season is Here Now the Waxcaps and Pinkgills are appearing in the fields, time to get out the identification guides, and if you haven’t yet purchased a copy of MMG’s publication Grassland Fungi: A Field Guide now is the time. Written by Elsa Wood and Jon Dunkelman, with help from photographers Keith Moseley, Malcolm Schuyl and others, it contains descriptions of 177 species and over 800 photographs, selected to illustrate the key identification points.